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In Johannesburg Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #45)

The Nelson Mandela Foundation

The Nelson Mandela Foundation
Johannesburg, South Africa

Chapter 3 of the unpublished autobiography written on Robben Island. It covers the period when he arrives in Johannesburg until he meets Walter Sisulu and Gaur Radebe and joins the African National Congress

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  • Title: In Johannesburg Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #45)
  • Date: 1976
  • Date Created: 1976
  • Transcript:
    Chapter 3: In Johannesburg In 1939 Daliwonga and I were shopping at Alice when we met Zineli Sangoni, then a student at Lovedale and who later married Justice's sister, Nomafu. As we parted I remarked to Daliwonga that the man had a beautiful sister whose name was Agrineth, a student at Clarkebury. That remark was followed by a chain of events which culminated in the marriage between Daliwonga and Agrineth in December 1940. Daliwonga's brother, George, Sonto and I were the best men. The Regent and Daliwonga's uncle, Chief Dalubuhle, were amongst the most important people at the wedding. Agrineth is the mother of the late Mthethu Vumile, who would have succeeded Daliwonga as the head of Emigrant Thembuland if he had lived. At the time of the wedding Justice was away on holiday in Cape Town. He returned early in 1941 and the Regent was putting tremendous pressure on him to get married. He had left school the previous year and the Regent found him a clerical post in Crown Mines which he would take up after the wedding. When we realised we could not stop the Regent from arranging the marriages for us, we decided to flee to Johannesburg and we kept this a closely guarded secret known only to ourselves. The Regent obviously suspected our intentions and took the precaution of never allowing the two of us to remain behind together whenever he was away. But one day in April he made exactly that mistake and we struck at once. Our main difficulty was lack of funds which we solved by selling
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  • Type: Book
  • Reference code: chapter 3, 45
  • Extent and Medium: pages 45 to 70, 1 page
  • Collection: Unpublished autobiographical manuscript
The Nelson Mandela Foundation

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